Rindge to celebrate community policing award

RINDGE — A community celebration for winning the New England Association of Chiefs of Police’s 2013 Award for Community Policing is planned for next week.

The celebration is set to take place Tuesday, April 22, at 4 p.m. at Franklin Pierce University’s Lake Side Education Center.

Chief Ted Smith of the Lincoln Police Department will be presenting the police department with the award, Rindge Police Chief Francis Morrill said Monday.

The award is a result of collaboration between the police department, a town crime watch group and Franklin Pierce officials, he said.

The awards were given out based on three population categories. Rindge won for a community of under 15,000 people, Northampton, Mass., won for a community with a population between 15,000 and 50,000, and Providence, R.I., won the award for community policing in a city of more than 50,000 people.

In his application to the association, Morrill outlined the years of effort that has gone into creating a partnership between the community and police and the success in both preventing and solving crimes it has produced.

“Some measurable success and perceived success has been experienced within the community of Rindge,” Morrill wrote in the application.

Morrill went on to say that Rindge’s Crime Watch was started in 2011 in response to a rash daytime home burglaries, adding that the number of such crimes dropped considerably after the creation of the crime watch.

Partnering with Franklin Pierce University over the last two years has resulted in a nearly 35 percent reduction in calls for service to the school, Morrill wrote, lowering the demand on both the town police and fire departments.

“Over the last (three) years the police and fire departments combined have experienced an annualized saving over $30,000,” he wrote.